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This undated photo provided by the Virginia Department of Corrections shows convicted murderer Ricky Gray who is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening, Jan. 18, 2017, at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va. Gray is scheduled to be put ... more >

Gray was sentenced to death for the slayings of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and her 4-year-old sister Ruby. Gray also was convicted of killing their parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey. The family was attacked when their front door was open as they prepared to hold a holiday party.

All were found in their burning home in Richmond, bound, beaten, stabbed and with their throats cut.

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6:50 p.m.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a defense request to halt Wednesday’s scheduled execution of a Virginia man convicted of killing two young girls and their parents during a New Year's Day home invasion in 2006.

The high court issued a one-sentence order denying the last-minute request by lawyers for 39-year-old inmate Ricky Gray. The emailed statement gave no explanation for the decision, adding the request was presented to the chief justice.

Gray had requested that the scheduled 9 p.m. execution be put on hold while he pursued a challenge to Virginia’s planned use lethal injection drugs from a compounding pharmacy.

Gray was sentenced to death for the slayings of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and her 4-year-old sister Ruby during a Richmond home invasion as the family prepared to hold a holiday party.

Gray also was sentenced to life in prison for the killings of the girls’ parents Kathryn and Bryan Harvey. All were found in their burning home, bound, beaten and stabbed with their throats cut.

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4:45 p.m.

Virginia’s attorney general is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to halt Wednesday evening’s scheduled execution of a man convicted of killing two young girls and their parents during a home invasion in 2006.

Attorney General Mark Herring’s office asked the high court Wednesday to deny 39-year-old Ricky Gray’s request to stay his execution.

Gray is scheduled to be executed at 9 p.m. for the murders of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and her 4-year-old sister, Ruby. He was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of their parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey.

Gray wants the Supreme Court to put his execution on hold so he can pursue his challenge to the state’s plans to use lethal injection drugs from a secret compounding pharmacy. He says the drugs would cause Gray a painful death.

Herring’s office said in its brief that its lethal injection protocol is neither “novel nor experimental.”

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6:00 a.m.

Virginia is planning to execute a man convicted of killing a well-known family of four in their Richmond home on New Year's Day 2006.

Gray’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put his execution on hold so he can pursue his challenge to the state’s lethal injection plan.

Gray was convicted of killing of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their daughters, Stella and Ruby. The family was found in the basement of their burning home, bound, beaten and stabbed, with their throats cut.

Gray’s attorneys say the scheduled execution would be the first time a state uses compounded midazolam or compounded potassium chloride in a lethal injection.